CLA 101 CC: ANCIENT GREECE

What enabled Athens to rise above other city-states to become the political and cultural center of ancient Greece?  How did the conflicting ideals of competition and collaboration combine to lift the Greeks to political, economic and cultural heights never before seen in the western world?  Why were the Greeks constantly at war?  Through reading a selection of works of poetry, history and drama and examining the archaeological remains that present first-hand evidence of public and private life, the course considers these and other questions by investigating the world of the ancient Greeks from the Bronze Age to conquest by the Romans.  The course explores the workings of Athenian democracy, trace the development of historical writing, and consider the origin in the Greek world of enduring issues such as the responsibilities of citizenship, the contributions and marginalization of women, foreigners, and slaves, and the development of a divide between east and west.